PM meets Arnold Scharzenegger at COP 23

Prime Minister and COP 23 President Voreqe Bainimarama met former California Governor and the Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger in Bonn, Germany yesterday.

Schwarzenegger took part in the COP 23 Health Actions High Level Event which focuses on having resilient health systems by 2030.

Bainimarama says he also met California Governor, Jerry Brown and American billionaire, Michael Bloomberg.

This is the last week of the climate change talks.

Meanwhile Bainimarama says a major loan agreement of $405‑million U.S dollars will benefit more than 220,000 people in Suva.

The investment will improve the water and wastewater infrastructure of the greater Suva area.

The agreement was signed over the weekend between the Fijian Government and the European Investment Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Green Climate Fund.

Bainimarama says the European Investment Bank has contributed up to $75 million US dollars to this project and he has thanked the bank for its foresight and for recognising the need to deploy substantial amounts of capital to reduce the risk of climate change, in both mitigation and adaptation.

He says in Suva’s case, ageing infrastructure stretching back to colonial times collapsed under the weight of a growing urban population, heavy rain and inadequate wastewater management.

Bainimarama says the government realised just how vulnerable the infrastructure was to climate change in the form of extreme weather events and sea level rise.